


Even Though My Life Before Was Tragic

by ailaikannu



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Lena Luthor Finds Out Kara Danvers is Supergirl, Lena Luthor-centric, SuperCorp, Supercorp endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-02-17 02:16:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13067040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ailaikannu/pseuds/ailaikannu
Summary: Based on this Tumblr post:You’re a regular office worker born with the ability to “see” how dangerous a person is with a number scale of 1-10 above their heads. A toddler would be a 1, while a skilled soldier with a firearm may score a 7. Today, you notice the reserved new guy at the office measures a 10.ORLena has the ability to see how dangerous a person is and has a heart attack when Kara Danvers, a blue eyed pupy like reporter, walks in her office with a bold ten right above her head.





	1. A Ten

Lena was used to random numbers appearing on people’s heads whenever she walked around town. Or when she was working. Or when she was dreaming.

She had come to forget about Jess’s three floating just above her head.

She was used to Lillian’s six and Lex’s seven.

She remembered her father’s five.

Since birth, Lena had realized that she had a pretty uncommon ability. She could see how dangerous someone was, based on a number scale above their head. Normally, she’d see a lot of threes and a lot of fours, and often wondered if she was ever going to see a ten and live long enough to remember it.

She had never talked to anyone about it, not even her parents when she was a child, she had always been too afraid to be seen as some kind of alien, a _disgrace_ to her family. She had tried running some tests on herself when she got older, never finding a reason behind her special feature. It was actually quite useful, actually, considering her background and her family name casually shadowing her wherever she went.

It helped her walk tall, with no fear in her eyes.

She knew that if someone wasn’t too dangerous, she couldn’t get too hurt. She knew that a three couldn’t kill her. She also knew that a seven might break her neck with a single finger.

One morning changed everything, when a blonde, blue eyed woman entered her office with a bright smile on her face and a scary ten right above her head.

Lena couldn’t help but stare at the woman standing in front of her.

A _ten_.

That woman couldn’t be a ten.

She was taller than Lena, but with a slim figure and enough muscle to be able to tell that she was a fan of workouts. Her blond locks were falling swiftly on her shoulders, delicately framing her sweet face.

Those eyes didn’t belong to a ten.

She had baby blue eyes, a pair of glasses sitting on her nose, making her look like she wouldn’t hurt a fly if she had the chance.

Lena was confused.

Even her clothes weren’t what she had imagined a ten would wear. A deep dark blue jumper with a white shirt underneath and grey pants. Definitely not what Lena expected from a ten, she had always imagined a lot of leather and black items.

“Hello, miss Luthor!” The woman brightly said. “I am Kara Danvers, with CatCo magazine.”

Lena shook her head and snapped out of it. “Hello, miss Danvers. What can I help you with?”

The woman looked way too nervous to be a ten. Tens don’t get nervous. They’re usually aware of their power.

“I am here to interview you about the new L-Corp device.” The woman said, still smiling.

Tens don’t smile that much. They’re scary.

“Of course.” Lena smiled back, gesturing to the seat in front of her desk. “Please, sit. Can I offer you some water?”

The woman nodded and Lena handed her a glass of water, which she kindly accepted.

“So…” Kara began.

Lena looked at her expectantly.

“You’re the youngest CEO in town.”

Lena smiled. “In the state, actually.”

“Yes! I knew that!”

 _Astonishing_. Lena thought. _I didn’t expect a ten to be like this_. _And her voice... She sounds like an angel, not a ten._

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get excited.” Kara said, blushing. “I’m just a big fan of powerful women.”

“Well, I can’t blame you, miss Danvers.”

Kara smiled awkwardly at her. “So, the device. What does it do?”

“Do you want the scientific explanation or the human one?”

Kara laughed. “Human, thank you.”

Lena started talking, explaining the device in detail, looking at Kara as she wrote everything that Lena was saying. Lena kept thinking about the ten that was floating right above Kara’s head and couldn’t help but wonder what she was capable of, or what she had done in the past to make her a ten. She thought that, maybe, it hadn’t happened yet. Maybe her ten was a possibility, it might have been what she was capable of. Kara didn’t look like a dangerous woman. Not at all.

“Alright, I think I got everything I needed.” She said, after a while.

“If you have other questions, you know where to find me.” Lena smiled.

“Of course.” Kara smiled back. “Thank you, miss Luthor. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Miss Danvers.”

She watched Kara walking away and poured herself a glass of scotch. She couldn’t believe she’d seen a ten. It wasn't the first time, but that was different. The first ten she'd ever seen was on Superman's head.

She clearly remembered Superman’s ten and wondered if Supergirl carried the same number.

She hadn’t seen Supergirl yet.

Maybe Kara was Supergirl.

Maybe she had met Supergirl in her human clothes.

That could be why she didn’t feel threatened by the blonde reporter.

Of course she didn’t expect to actually meet Supergirl because she was thrown out of her balcony by some douchebags her mother had sent to kill her.

Stupid sixes.

“Ah, Supergirl.” Lena breathed hard. “Thank you for saving me.”

She looked at the blonde woman standing in front of her. A ten floating above her head. Giving Lena the feeling that she had met her already.

Yep.

She had met Supergirl in her human disguise.

“Of course, miss Luthor.”

Same voice.

Same eyes.

Same hair.

Kara Danvers was Supergirl.

The woman took off and Lena watched her as she flew away, wondering just how fast she had to be in order to have seen her and saved her in the span of a few seconds.

She was sure of Supergirl’s secret identity for many reasons that went beyond her physical appearance. First of all, in twenty-four years, Lena had only seen one other person with a ten above their head.

Clark Kent. She had figured out that he was Superman long before her brother even thought about it.

She decided she wouldn’t confront Kara on the subject, but she definitely knew that she was drawn to her and wanted to see her again.

 

 


	2. Whiskey

The first few months in National City went by like a breeze.

Lena spent the majority of her time either doing work or hanging out with Kara.

Supergirl had to save her a few times because, even in National City, being a Luthor put her in danger.

It didn’t take her long to realize that Kara’s ten was a possibility. It was how dangerous she could be, not how dangerous she actually was. Kara’s heart was too pure to be dangerous. She was too kind to hurt anyone.

It took Lena even less time to realize that she was developing feelings for her dorky friend.

Her Saturday nights were mostly spent at Kara’s place, with some of her friends often joining them.

Alex, Kara’s sister, a steady six on her head.

Maggie, Alex’s girlfriend, a six floating above her.

Winn, Kara’s friend, a shaky four dancing above him.

They were joined by a larger group of friends on Christmas. Kara had told Lena that they were from far away, Lena had assumed they were actually Supergirl’s friends from some kind of different dimension.

She saw a lot of eights and nines that night.

She never found the courage to actually tell Kara that she knew about her secret identity, figuring there must have been a good reason as to why she hadn’t told her yet.

After a particularly heavy day, Lena felt like her life was too much to handle and tried drowning her sorrows in a bottle of whiskey.

“I feel like there’s something that you want to tell me.” Kara said, approaching her.

“I am drunk?” Lena tried.

“It’s not like I needed you to clarify that.” Kara smiled. “It’s pretty obvious.”

“Ah, right.”

“So, what is it?”

Lena sighed as she took a sip of her whiskey. “I can see numbers.”

“What? Everyone can see numbers.”

Lena let out a humourless laugh. “Not the way I can.”

“Care to elaborate?”

Lena looked at her for a second. “I have a peculiar ability that I still can’t quite understand. Since birth, I’ve been seeing numbers floating above people’s heads. It took me a while to realize that they showed how dangerous a person can be.”

Kara gasped. “Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because when you were attacked this morning, your number changed, and it’s never happened before.”

“Why do you think it happened?” Kara asked.

“I’m not sure. I think it was because of the red sun ray, it effectively made you less powerful, thus making you less dangerous.”

Lena thought about that morning and about how scared she had felt. The number became blurry the moment the red sun ray had hit Kara and then changed to a six for longer than Lena could remember. She had felt terrified for a few moments, thinking Kara might have blown out her powers permanently.

Kara nodded. “What number do I have?”

“I almost had a heart attack when I met you, because you were accompanied by a ten. And, you know, with the way you look… It was weird. It didn’t take me long to realize that it was because you are Supergirl.”

“So you know.” Kara took a deep breath. “Is it still a ten?”

Lena nodded. “It changed for a brief time today, but it went back to ten after you got better.”

“How did you realize that those numbers tell you how dangerous someone can be?”

“I thought about it for a long time.” Lena began. “At first I thought it was like someone’s level of importance in the world, but it didn’t make much sense. I started thinking about danger when I realized that people with higher numbers were usually the one who would bully other people, or physically threaten them.”

“Why do you think you have this… Skill?” Kara asked, looking curiously at her.

“I’m not sure.” Lena commented. “It’s… I’ve never thought about it. It just happened and I’ve learned to live with it.”

“Does it make you change your mind about people?”

“Well, not really.” Lena whispered. “I mean, it’s basically the first thing I see. I meet someone and see the number even before they start talking.”

They never talked about it, with the exception of Kara sometimes asking what numbers people had on them and Lena laughing at her and feeling grateful that Kara didn’t see her skill as something extremely weird.

It was New Year’s Eve when Lena found the courage to talk to Kara.

Well, she didn’t really talk.

She had a plan, but her idea disappeared the moment Kara cocked her head to one side and looked at her, a huge grin on her face.

Lena’s brain froze and she followed her gut.

She kissed Kara and tasted whiskey on a tongue that wasn’t hers.

Lena was sure whiskey had never tasted better than it did in that particular moment.


End file.
